


Wayfinder to Balance

by Lust4Cillian



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Inappropriate Use of the Force, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:01:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22028977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lust4Cillian/pseuds/Lust4Cillian
Summary: "I’m going to find you, and I’m going to turn you to the dark side. When I offer you my hand again, you’ll take it." This story starts in TROS in the hangar of Kylo's Star Destroyer over Kijimi; while Finn, Poe, and co are escaping on the Millenium Falcon, Kylo is dropping bombs about dyads and Grandpa Palpatine. So what would have happened if the hurt and anger over this news pushed Rey to the Dark Side--just as Kylo Ren promised when he foretold him offering her his hand the next time? This fix explores what could've happened...Will they find a way to defeat Palpatine together? And along the way, a way back to the Light? Or a balance between the Dark Side and the Light Side?
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 53
Collections: TROS Reylo Fix-it Fics





	1. When I Offer You My Hand Again

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing TROS twice this story has been nagging at me non-stop; I have been reading so many fix it fics revolving around the ending of the movie but really am curious about if they'd gone down a dark Rey route. I haven't done much digging to see if others are going this route but if not hopefully it can find some love! I haven't written a fic in yeeeeeeeears and never a Star Wars one so bare with me as I find a groove. I don't have an exact plan for this but my original thoughts are still leading me to a Ben-demption of sorts and/or Reylo finding a balance in the Light/Dark sides, we'll see where we end up :)

Rey gathers her breath and begins to slowly move as Kylo emerged from his TIE Whisper. The dull pattering of storm troopers flooding into the hangar is almost instantly muted by Kylo’s heavy boots. No doubt assisted by his weighted legs, they thud and echo with each step while they commence a slow circling of one another. Her mind’s eye works toward aligning herself with the opening to the outside as Rey senses Finn and Poe’s relief of finding an exit strategy.

She stops moving, her back to the outside world as Kylo takes a final step to square himself with her. His mask reveals nothing but she knows her and Kylo are locked, eye to eye. The burning need for information overcomes her desire to bite her tongue. To not be the first to speak. She didn’t want this information, isn’t that what she had said just 10 minutes ago as they’d fought and made a mess in his chamber? It came anyway.

“Why did the emperor come for me?” Rey questions. “Why did he want to _kill_ a _child?_ Tell me.”

“Because he saw what you would become.” Kylo responds without hesitation as he takes a few small steps toward her. 

“You don’t just have power.” He halts and pauses before continuing, “You have his power. You’re his granddaughter.” He nods as he provides the information, like he’s willing her to know the truth.

Her chest instantly tightens as her breath hitches in her throat.

“You.” Kylo finishes, “Are a Palpatine.” 

Images she’s seen thousands of times flood her mind along with the newly uprooted information Kylo had forced upon her in the chamber. Her parents leaving her to protect her from The Emperor. The Emperor. _Her Grandfather._ She takes a step back, barely conscious of the effort to keep herself on her feet. 

Her feet continue to move in opposition of Kylo, who has begun to move towards her, slowly, while speaking at what felt like barely above a whisper through his mask, “My mother was the daughter of Vader. Your father was the son of the emperor.”

The thoughts continue to smash around in her head as she registered what Kylo was saying, piecing together the bits she’s always known with the newly acquired ones. Discovering the meaning of his words.

Her Grandfather had killed her father. 

And her mother. 

She’d spent the majority of her life alone on Jakku with the hope and faith that her family would return for her. But they never would. Her _family_ would never have returned because her _family_ had killed them.

A hint of hatred flickered against her heart; her soul attempting to stave off a slow ache of rage that threatened to overtake it. The semi-familiar sensation that had been glinting in and out of her life recently. The one she hid, because no one would understand. She was a Jedi, to be bathed in the light, never to be dabbling in the shadows. 

“What Palpatine doesn’t know, is we’re a _dyad_ in the force, Rey,” Kylo continued—"two, that are one.”

The wind whistling at her back calls her attention to the edge of the hangar that she’s reached, the cold air attempting to wash away her rising anger. Calm her, cool her.

A dyad—she’d remembered seeing that somewhere within her stolen Jedi texts. Her limited deciphering had prevented her from understanding what it was, but he had put it simply. Two, that are one. What could never be described but only equated to a small sense of relief touched her. The things she’d felt in her connection with the man across from her. More things she’d kept hidden. They were possibly explained with this. The force had already linked her with him, it didn’t matter if she’d consented or not.

“We’ll kill him...together. And take the throne.”

A creeping sensation at the back of her skull began. Her vision of the Sith throne being recalled as Kylo removed his mask. 

_A monstrous chair made of stone, outlined in spiked, jagged appendages. On it had sat Kylo, masked and towering, looking rightfully in place. And on his lap a hooded figure, cloaked in only black. Kylo had removed his mask with ease and reached an ungloved hand to the hooded figure, grasping the back of what she’d assumed had been a neck and pulling it in, half his face disappearing into the hood. The figure immediately had raked human fingers into his hair, pulling him deeper. Within a moment of struggling for dominance the hood had fallen away allowing Rey an undeniable view of Kylo and a darker version herself locked to each other at the mouth. As Kylo’s mouth broke away and moved to her neck, the vision Rey had tossed her head back and grinned while moaning before turning Rey’s direction—leaving the woman’s identity irrefutable before the vision snapped closed._

Her lips had burned for hours after the vision had ended. 

Conflict within her was exploding as Kylo said his next words, “You know what you need to do.” Her eyes flicked to his mouth as he finished before following the scar she’d given him to lock back onto his eyes.

“You know.” 

As Kylo extended his hand, she could feel him probe at her mind. No doubt attempting to mentally assess her actions before he could be surprised again like the last time he had offered. Her mental walls remained unwavering, even though inside was pure chaos. 

Suddenly she felt like she was back on Ahch-To, sitting atop a boulder with Master Skywalker urging her to understand The Force. She felt that same pull as when she’d first seen the dark hole in the ground, hidden on the island in her mind. That irresistible lurch to find its offerings.

_You can’t hide, Rey. Not from me._

She wouldn’t need to if she took his hand, she knew that. He was offering her the opportunity to selfishly explore that cave and right the wrongs that had been done to her by her own lineage. Destroying Palpatine would ease the ache, avenge her parents who’d lost their child and then their lives. How would she be able to do such a thing if she returned to The Resistance. Her interactions with Finn and others in her life had only been adding to the distance she felt with them recently. _I’m beginning to think no one truly knows me_ she’d whispered to herself of late. She was human and felt emotions just like everyone else, including grief and rage, but she was made to feel as if she had to be above it.  


But not with Kylo. Deep in her brain, hidden far from where anyone’s clutches would ever reach, a plan hatched. 

_Let the past die, kill it if you have to._

“I do.” She whispered, and reached out her hand as she slowly stepped forward to him. 

\-----

Kylo hid the desperation he once again felt deep within himself as he extended his hand, there would be no “please” at the end of this offer. He hadn’t felt Rey attempting to read him as he’d explained the final pieces to her puzzle but he would not allow an opportunity for weakness to expose itself.

He needed this. 

She needed this. 

He’d seen the vision of himself on the throne and the maddening feeling of her next to him had been indescribable. 

_I don’t want to have to kill you._

He’d meant it. The Final Order would be his, and ideally without Palpatine behind him attempting to pull the strings. He could accomplish this with Rey on his side; the complete dyad with a force not seen for generations would be unsurmountable for the decrepit Emperor. They could do it together, and not just for the power they’d gain but for what they’d find with one another as well. It made it all the more important to him to have her on his side—the dark side—when he destroyed Palpatine.  


He couldn’t enter her mind but watched the conflict cross her face, and then a hardened resolve covered it up. 

“I do.” She whispered darkly, and his skin rippled with the beginnings of a shiver which immediately died as her hand rose and she started to him.


	2. You'll Take It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes! So writing this chapter (and going forward) went from what felt like a breeze to suddenly a daunting task as I realized all of the things I needed to account for because, though I’m not a Star Wars expert (I’ve been doing a lot of research since starting this fic), I feel slightly OCD about staying true to what was happening the story and the SW universe in general. The big thing was the timeline set up for TRoS….they said the Final Order would launch for destroying in 16 hours. I wanted more time for Rey to be seduced to the Dark Side and explore that so 16 hours just wasn’t going to work haha I thought about asking everyone to just disregard the 16 hour timeline for the sake of the story but felt guilty doing so, so my compromise is below (in Kylo’s portion of the chapter), hopefully its not terribly cringey or too unbelievable—If it is just pretend I went with the first option haha. Enjoy!

_I’m being torn apart._  
_I wanna be free of this pain._  
_I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it._  
_…Will you help me?_

For months Rey had felt it, the bubbling of emotions threatening to rise to the surface—and stay there. The anger that sometimes overcame her while training. Smashing training droids without mercy when they got off shots on her, the sparking of damaged electronics easing the stinging of her wounds. The fear she woke up to far too often, unwelcome and fueling her anger even more that she would even be susceptible to being haunted in her dreams. The jealousy that drew bile to her throat when seeing rebel lovers finding time to laugh and comfort one another at The Resistance base. The aggression that kept exploding out of her felt dangerous. Unrestrained. _Good._

She knew it was the dark side. Working its way in, trying to turn her. Throughout her life she lived like any other human; experiencing emotions of all ranges and dealing with them as best she could. Frustrating days spent foraging under the relentless sun on Jakku easily evoked anger and irritation. Scratching her daily line in the wall some days drew out the desperation and dread she felt about possibly spending the rest of her days alone instead of being a reminder to her to stay hopeful. 

These were normal processes, she knew that, she felt it. 

But things had changed, evolved. It had become increasingly more difficult to reign these emotions in the way someone who wasn’t being pulled from the inside out would be able to, they way she used to be able to.

_You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of The Force._

His words had echoed in her mind on a daily basis since losing Master Luke. How was she supposed to figure this all out? Everyone at the base had ideas of what they wanted from her, what they needed. Her stolen texts contained a jumbling of languages, some of which resembled none she’d ever seen—as a scavenger she’d come to learn and understand many languages but mostly in a spoken manner, reading was an entirely other beast to conquer, especially for ancient and obsolete languages at that.

She’d felt overwhelmed and slightly lost, trying to figure it all out. And in dark moments, alone at night, she’d been tempted to test her bond with Ben…Kylo. She’d mentally reverted his name back to his dark moniker when flying The Resistance survivors from Crait—replaying the image of closing the ship door on Ben, her anger at him for forcing her to abandon hope on his return to the light side. 

_Goodbye, Ben._

She’d known the bond was still active between them after Crait. Though they’d not come face to face since then, she’d felt the slight tingling sensation of the bond attempting to do something on a few occasions. The hair on her arms would stand on end and outside noises would fade a bit, but not fall silent as had previously happened when she’d find him visible to her. She knew it would work if she tried but she’d bite her lip and squeeze her eyes shut as she’d fight back the thoughts of reach out to him. The internal struggle of what she would even do if it worked helped quell the urges. 

But the moment had come, an offered hand in front of her. She could take it and use Kylo to show her the dark side. Once she understood it, she could control it. Once she could control it, it wouldn’t continue to hold power over her and she could return the light side. She would be stronger than all the others before her who’d mastered dark power only to become the dark power. At least that was her hope. She’d use Kylo for what she could to train and grow, she’d destroy Palpatine, and she’d return order to the galaxy. Kylo could talk about taking the throne but she would destroy that too, he didn’t know she had no intention of letting her throne vision come to fruition. She would do it all, because she was stronger than the rest. 

The galaxy needed this from her. 

She needed this from her.

Crossing the distance to Kylo felt like slow motion, as if the galaxy had ceased existing. Eyes locked on one another, all sound ceased to exist as it always did during their bond moments. As her naked fingers slid across the leather of his glove she watched him swallow and maintain a mask of calm collection, of dominance and control.

Let him think that.

His fingers engulfed her hand and swallowed it whole, closing firmly as if it would never be undone, it was locked this way forever. He dropped his helmet as he jerked his arm to pull her forward, not violently, but forcefully. His now free hand rose to curl his index finger under her chin with his thumb resting directly on it as he bent forward to get slightly above her eyeline and again locking them at the eyes.

“Good choice, Rey,” he whispered. 

Suddenly the deafening silence of the bond was destroyed by the explosive manner of storm trooper blasters. As they were ripped out of their bond, Rey whipped around to see The Falcon in the hangar entrance. 

Of course she’d forgotten about them, and now here they were for her. As The Falcon’s thrusters kick on storm troopers go flying back and to the ground. It was only as her and Kylo brace themselves against the kick of wind to maintain their position on their feet that she briefly becomes aware they are still joined at the hand. Finn appears on the lowered ramp of The Falcon screaming for her. 

“REY! Rey, come on!”

Her eyes rip to Kylo as she scrambles to figure out how to get them to go without her. She finds Kylo’s eyes have hardened and become furious. She stands there, frozen in place as she looks back to Finn who’s waiting for her and slowly starts to shake her head at him. 

“What are you doing?! Rey! We need to go!”

The fainting screaming of incoming TIE fighters can be heard, from where she has no idea, and some of the storm troopers begin to get off shots with their blasters again. Rage fills Rey’s head, they need to just leave—she can do this. She will do this. Watching Finn get blasted is not an option.

“GO!” Rey screams as she lifts a hand. The ramp Finn stands on begins to shake and retract into the ship. 

“Rey! No! REY!” He’s far away but she can see the hurt on his face, the frantic terror trying to understand.

“I said GO!” Her hand shakes as she tries to use The Force to push The Falcon away, watching Finn disappear into the ship as the ramp closes completely. A large blast explodes on the back of The Falcon from within the hangar and suddenly its pulling away with its own speed and she drops her arm, knowing they’ll go on risk of blowing up if they stay in place. The ship flies out of view within seconds. 

Rey stands there panting, out of breath, with eyes wide wondering what she’s just done. Anger scratching at the edge of her brain, she needs to get this going. Whipping around, she seethes in Kylo’s face, “ _teach_ me.”

He momentarily looks taken aback and then something flashes in his eyes that he doesn’t recognize. “Gladly,” he shoots back as he yanks her in the direction of a hallway out of the hangar.

\------------------------

“The Jedi apprentice still lives. Perhaps you have betrayed me? Do not make me turn my fleet against you.” Palpatine’s voice floods Kylo’s helmet.

“I know where she is, she’ll never be a Jedi.” Kylo responds confidently.

“Make sure of it. Kill her.”

“You know the power she contains, pairing that with The Resistance doing what they can to hide her, we’ll be scouring the galaxy in the pursuit of her for who knows how long,” Kylo reasons.

“Hmmmm,” Palpatine hums. “I expect your best service, move quickly. I will not hold The Final Order forever, as I have already waited decades.” And with that the voice dissipates. 

Kylo turns and strides down the corridor, heading toward the bridge to tie up loose ends so he can get moving with Rey. Kylo Ren is not foolish enough to not sense when traitors are amongst him, he knew General Pryde has also been speaking with The Emperor. Killing him now, however, would be inconvenient and likely raise Palpatine’s suspicions. Upon entering the bridge Kylo looks for Hux who is no where to be seen. 

“Supreme Leader,” General Pryde addresses him.

“Where’s Hux?” Kylo questions. 

“Disposed of. It was discovered that he was our traitor—he was found assisting the scavenger and her friends in their escape aboard the freighter. I executed him immediately.”

“You _what?_ ” Kylo seethes, clenching his fists resisting the urge to choke the living daylight out of the man. 

He’d known Hux had been The Resistance informant—entering the red haired terror’s mind had been simple. He knew since demoting Hux and raising General Pryde that the animosity Hux had felt for him had grown exponentially. What kind of idiot would he have been to not be monitoring his thoughts and actions? Pretending not to know, he had planned on dealing that himself when the timing had been right—searching for Rey had taken priority knowing The Resistance was no real threat at the moment. He had looked forward to dealing with Hux himself. 

Pryde almost had the decency to look momentarily frightened but hid it well, “there is footage of his assistance if you need to see it, Supreme Leader.”

“Don’t waste my time, General Pryde,” Kylo continues to seethe. “My Knights and I will be heading back out to recapture the scavenger. You—” he raises a finger at the General, “—will continue to maintain The First Order’s position against The Resistance while we work to set ourselves up for The Emperor’s directions. _Keep. Them. Down._ ”

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Pryde notes as Kylo immediately stalks out of the Bridge not bothering to wait for a response.

Using The Force to mind trick the hangar storm troopers had been easy enough to create the illusion of Rey escaping with the Rebel scum aboard the Falcon. Storm troopers by default are broken down and trained to be weak minded and eager to follow orders willingly. It also helped that many had been knocked unconscious by the blast from the Falcon’s thrusters so few actually needed to be tricked. Pulling Rey’s hood over her head on their way out of the hangar, he’d turned and lifted a hand—commanding them to misremember what had happened, forgetting the scavenger was still aboard the ship. The staff they’d ran into while Kylo led her to his quarters were even more simple to mind wipe in their pairs of small quantities. Pushing Rey into his chamber, he’d told her to stay put and not touch anything; he’d be back for her in a bit.

Heading back to his chambers now an anxiousness bloomed in Kylo’s gut. He didn’t know what he’d be walking back into—he knew she’d never find her way into anything of value or importance without his clearance codes in various hidden compartments, but the element of surprise had him on edge as he could sense nothing from her end. He’d already contacted the Knights of Ren to get them moving to Dominus III quickly to set up. All he needed to do was get her in the Upsilon and they’d be on their way. 

Pausing outside the entry, Kylo made one last ditch attempt to sense her or her thoughts. Nothing. Huffing out a breath, Kylo entered the clearance code to make his way in and braced himself as he strode in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eek! Little longer chapter this time, hopefully the next is less about setting the story up and more getting into the fun of it all! Please feel free to leave comments and some love if you feel so inclined—knowing people are reading/interested is a nice motivator 😊


	3. Be With Me

Whites. Grays. Blacks. There was no trace of _color_ in Kylo’s chambers, and though Rey had seen his chambers, or a version similar to this, before on Snoke’s destroyed warship during their force bond moments, she’d never realized this detail—or lack thereof. Initially it gave her a sense of being in a medical facility, all clean and sterile with no personal affects to be seen. After Kylo shoved her in and barked at her to remain within the chambers and not to touch anything while he was gone, she’d immediately began to wander throughout the area. She searched for nothing in particular, but the scavenger within her itched to be released, to distract her from her current situation, the pathway she’d chosen to commit to.

The space was modest in size, and so immaculate it left her wondering if he ever actually stayed within it. Her hands grope along the wall as she walks, fishing for any sort of hidden nooks and crannies. Dissatisfied with her empty findings along the first wall she strides to the table further within the room. The top was dark and reflective, untarnished by even 1 fleck of dust. Her fingers skim over a datapad resting on the table and it lights up. Password protected of course, she sighs internally to herself knowing she wouldn’t have even the faintest idea of where to start guessing on that. Moving on she lifts the cup resting near the datapad to her face, a quick whiff of the liquid within comes back with nothing, water she deduces. Tentatively tipping the cup back she takes a sip and instantly realizes how thirsty she is. After a quick confirmation that the contents are in fact water, she gulps the rest of it down. 

Setting the cup back down she realizes a drop of the water had found its way to the table’s surface. She stares at it sitting there, dazing out on the clear substance still holding its domed shape. As if nothing in the world would disrupt it from its perfect state sitting upon the table’s faultless surface. A sense of irritation ignites in her mind and she lifts her hand to press the pad of her index finger to the droplet, moving so hesitantly it feels as though time has slowed. As she crushes the drop and her finger connects to the cool table, a mild feeling of satisfaction replaces her irritation; smearing her finger and the trace amount of liquid along the table makes her feel better. It felt good to ruin the perfect little drop and the smudge left upon the otherwise spotless surface only adds to that satisfaction.

Snapping out of her sense of slowed time, Rey furrows her brows. She didn’t have time to sit around playing with water, dirtying up Kylo’s pristine space, not when she could be continuing her exploration of it. Accessing the refresher Rey finds more clean, sleek features complete with a sink, toilet, and shower. Pulling at the mirror she finds nothing more than a toothbrush hiding behind it. Rolling her eyes, she closes the mirror and moves back out into the main area. Another glance around leaves little else to explore and her eyes settle on the bed. She has no idea why it seems larger than she’d expected. Clearly Kylo was a large man, the idea of a twin sized bed she’d imagined him sleeping in made no sense, but all the same she felt momentarily surprised. The hair on the back of her neck stands up for reasons unknown to her as she continues to linger on the expansive bed frame. 

Tearing her gaze away Rey settles herself onto the floor in the corner of the room, where she had a clear view of the door if needed. She was feeling on edge after her fruitless scavenging and needed to meditate, to connect with the force, regain her balance. As she attempted to slow her breaths, inhaling deeply through her nose and exhaling right back out, she struggled to feel it.

_Breathe._

Her mind wandered to thoughts of just how dark this place must be to make the task so much more difficult than usual. She thought back to the water drop; why had it relieved her to crush it? With her eyes closed, she replayed the event in her mind and instantly knew: spite. Here she was in Kylo’s chambers, surveying his private space, and all she’d found was flawlessness—it had vexed her in the moment, and she’d let her spite win out with the desire to muddy it up. She knew it was the dark side of things making her feel good about destroying something even as simple as an immaculate table. 

_Breathe._

Shaking off thoughts of the darkness, she concentrates harder. If she was going to maintain her balance with one foot in the light and the other in the dark, then she needed to be able to find the light side of the force no matter how deep in the dark she was. And suddenly, as if she’d willed it into existence herself, she feels the tendrils of the light at the edge of her senses. Reaching for it to engulf her, she lets it wash over her soul. 

_Be with me. Be with me._

Continuing her deep breaths, she falls into her meditation with the light, losing herself in her time and place, erecting barriers and blockades to her mind easily to shut out the world around her. She has no idea how much time passes in this state before the doors opening rips her back to reality. 

Instantly she can feel him in the force reaching for her as her barriers come down, trying to gauge where she’s at mentally. She pushes him out of her head as she quickly stands. His mask has returned to his head, effectively impeding her view of his face and any emotions he might visibly display upon it. 

“We need to get moving,” Kylo’s voice crackles out through the voice modulator.

“Where are we going?” she counters as he begins to move further into the room. Annoyance starts to fill her as he doesn’t respond. Instead he reaches the wall near the fresher and pulls a latch that slides the wall out several inches and then back along itself. A row of dark clothes is all Rey can see as she watches him rummage in them. Of course she hadn’t finished checking the walls, maker only knows what she missed finding in there.

“Put this on,” he states as he hands her a dark, hooded cloak. “Make sure its clasped shut and stays that way so that white outfit stays out of sight.”

“I asked you where we’re going,” she snaps, making no move to put on the cover. If he was going to be difficult, she would shoot it right back. She let this childish intention flow freely between the two of them, knowing he’d pick up on it.

His sigh exits the mask, “Dominus III. Now get moving, we don’t have time to stand here. We can discuss things, _civilly_ , on the ship.”

“Where’s my lightsaber?” she continues to question as she slings the cloak around her shoulders and works at the clasps. It is clearly way too long for her, but it would definitely keep her covered, and she couldn’t help but notice how Kylo’s scent flooded her nose. 

She’d caught whiffs of his scent before, remembering them clearly. She recalls the feeling of his breath on her face while interrogating her over BB-8; the invasion of her space as they were locked saber to saber at the edge of a crevice fighting for the upper hand; how his eyes had glanced her up and down as she’d moved to inches away from him while she offered to help him turn in Snoke’s elevator. Covered in his cloak now she was overwhelmed by how familiar the scent was. Describing it would be difficult she found; like raging heat with frigid cold—burning trees in icy winter with a hint of leather and something mildly sweet. Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, a hunter in the dark. 

As she forced herself to climb away from the thoughts of his scent, she realized he was staring at her, though she couldn’t see her eyes, she could feel his curious gaze. “My saber? I’d like it back,” she reminds him.

“You’ll get it back later, let’s get moving,” he replies, coming back to reality from whatever thoughts were in his head. 

“I’d like it now,” she demands. He’d had no real reason to snatch it in the first place, but in the shock of what she’d just signed herself up to while they were leaving the hangar, she’d found it impossible to fight him on it as they’d hurried down a maze of hallways.

“We don’t have time for this, Rey! We can do this the easy way, or the _hard way_ ,” he threatens through the mask as he leans in, getting inches from her face. 

Her mind immediately fills with the memory of him stealing her consciousness on Takodana and she hisses with anger leaning in even closer, “I’d like to see you try the hard way!” She’d grown much stronger since then, when she hadn’t even known how to tap into her power—she suspected she wouldn’t go down so easily this time.

They stare each other down for a moment, her brown eyes dark with anger and his scowling mask unrelenting. “It’s on the ship, get moving and you’ll get it back quicker,” he concedes as he reaches over and yanks up the hood of the cloak, covering her head and obscuring her face. He grabs her upper arm and begins to lead her to the door, this time however she jerks her arm from his grasp—she can walk herself and she grumbles as much as they head out of the chamber.

\-------------

Moving Rey as quickly as possible down the halls, Kylo continues to check that the hood she bears remains in place to cover her face. Hand at his side he thumbs along her lightsaber attached to him, feeling it next to his own and hidden by his cloak. Of course he had her weapon on him, but she didn’t need to know that and there was no way he was going to let her think she’d won their standoff in the chambers by giving it to her then. 

So he’d lied, and a ghost of a smirk twitches at the right side of his lips thinking of how fierce she’d looked while trying to hold her own against him. Yes, this was going to work perfectly. Even in the brief moments they’d spent in his chambers he could feel how easily he elicited the dark side in her now. How quickly he could get her to anger. Once they were worlds away with space and time, antagonizing her into embracing and wielding it would work to their advantage nicely.

_Let it in, Rey._

Moving to the Upsilon, the ramp lowers as a storm trooper releases it upon seeing Kylo’s approach. He propels her forward to the ramp with a hand on her lower back that makes her muscles stiffen he senses. Kylo stops to turn toward a gathering group of troopers when he’s satisfied she’ll continue on her way up unassisted.

The squad leader in the front greets him, “Supreme Leader, how many soldiers will you require for your mission? I can have as many as you need ready to depart in—"

“None, my knights and I will be handling this search on our own. We’ll alert General Pryde when and where troopers are needed, if needed.” He raises a hand and watches the suited body go rigid with focus. “I’m leaving this ship alone, no one else was here.”

“Very good, sir, you’re leaving alone and we’ll await your instructions,” the guard regurgitates back to Kylo mechanically.

Kylo’s halfway up the ramp before the man finishes, and he immediately recalls it into a closed status. He finds Rey already in the copilot seat and he gracefully slides into the main chair. Disengaging from the fuel source the Upsilon is currently attached to and raising the landing gears, Kylo hovers the ship and begins to move it out of the hangar. Flipping switches and firing up the thrusters they whizz out into the sky, the smooth transition into space unnoticeable with his piloting skills.

“My saber?” Rey pipes from the seat next to him not two minutes into the flight. 

Rolling his eyes, he moves and releases the catch on his mask. It hisses as it pulls forward while he swivels his chair to face her, elegantly removing the helmet from his head as he always did to deal with the hair that always fell upon its freedom. Reaching a long arm, he sets the helmet on a ledge next to his seat and locks his gaze to hers. He simpers slightly as his hand moves aside his cloak and detaches her lightsaber from himself, never moving his eyes from hers. Watching the indignation cover her face as she realizes he’d had it the whole time brings him a perverse amount of pleasure. 

“You kriffing—” she cuts herself off as she calls the weapon to her and it meets her hand. He watches her, keeping the amusement off his face as much as he can, while she turns her own chair back to the viewport and huffs, “tell me the plan, Kylo.”

Moving his chair back to a straight position and beginning to input the coordinates for Dominus III he sobers himself. It was the first time he’d heard his name out of her mouth while speaking to him and it sent a ripple through his body, though what kind he couldn’t identify. Pushing the thought away, he refocuses. 

It was time to get back to business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I'm so sorry for such a delayed update! Work has been absolutely nuts and we've been on mandatory overtime so finding time to squeeze in writing while keeping up has been a challenge! I've got the house to myself this weekend so between squeezing in some more OT Saturday and Sunday I'm hopeful I can get another chapter or two typed up so we don't have a 2 week hiatus again :) If you enjoyed the chapter/story so far please feel free to leave some love in the comments, its very encouraging to know what people are thinking! Constructive criticism is always welcome too! Also, Nyarlathotep Perfume Oil was a reference point used for Kylo's scent--I've never actually smelled it but it felt very Kylo when reading the notes haha. I don't really know what I'm doing on Tumblr other than scrolling through all things Reylo but feel free to come say hi there as well: Lust4Reylo :)

**Author's Note:**

> Any comments, questions, concerns are welcome! :)


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